Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Clinched! (Kind of)

The Phillies clinched a postseason berth with today’s 1-0 victory over Houston.

I was thinking what would have happened if this had happened five years ago. If you recall, the Phillies clinched the 2007 National League East championship on the final day of the season. But what would have happened had the Phillies been cruising to the division title in ’07 — following a 14-year absence from the postseason — and clinched the NL Wild Card a few days earlier? Would they have celebrated?

It’s tough to say, but one thing is certain: there was no way they were celebrating a Wild Card berth today.

Wild card? As Cliff Lee would say, “Whatever.”

This team has bigger fish to fry. I can’t crawl into every player’s head, but I certainly get the sense this team is focused on one thing: a World Series championship. You have guys that have been on this team and have fallen short (Roy Halladay, Raul Ibanez, Roy Oswalt, Placido Polanco, etc.), guys that have never made the postseason (Hunter Pence) and a guy that passed up millions because this is where he thought he could win a World Series (Cliff Lee). There are a lot of hungry players on this team. A lot of people that believe this is the team’s best shot to bring a parade to Broad Street.

On another note, the biggest advantage to clinching a playoff spot this early is that it gives the Phillies’ marketing department the chance to sell another series of hats and t-shirts. Whoopee!
Soon to be followed by the “Division Champions”, “NLDS”, “NLCS”, and “World Series” hats and t-shirts.

Hmm, yeah – forgot that marketing spree. I never buy anything until the Phils are done. I think all that division champs, NLDS and LCS stuff is pessimistic. All I have from 2008 is World Series Champions stuff and I have NL Champs stuff from 2009 that I bought after the World Series (at a discount). I didn’t buy anything last year because that Giants series bothered me for weeks afterward.

Thought I’d check in. Nice to see you are all still here and in fine form. I’ve been enjoying the season mostly from afar but did get to see one game live about a month ago soon after Pence joined the team and Werth was in Philly with the Nats. They lost the game but John Kruk’s ceremony and seeing many former Phillies greats was definitely a highlight.

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